Rob Blandford trained as a linguist and began his career as an interpreter and translator with IBM in the 90s in Manchester, U.K.

From 2005, he taught English in Japan for two years, before moving to Australia and joining The University of Western Australia (UWA) as a casual English teacher. Rob subsequently joined the university’s Faculty of Engineering, where he worked in student administration, student support, and marketing/events.

In 2014, Rob joined UWA’s alumni relations team, which he describes as “like seeing what every role he’d ever done previously had prepared him for”.

Rob moved to Hobart, Tasmania, in mid-2021 to take up a role as Associate Director, Alumni Relations at University of Tasmania. He is passionate about engaging alumni with their university in ways which deeply benefit current and future students. He believes that all the best ways to engage people are those which improve others’ lives.